Laughing Dove

Streptopelia senegalensis

The laughing dove is a small pigeon that is a resident breeder in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Western Australia where it has established itself in the wild after being released from Perth Zoo in 1898. This small long-tailed dove is found in dry scrub and semi-desert habitats where pairs can often be seen feeding on the ground. It is closely related to the spotted dove which is distinguished by a white and black chequered necklace. Other names include laughing turtle dove, palm dove and Senegal dove while in Asia the name little brown dove is often used. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 156,560 times across 28 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 26°C (typically 18 to 31°C, from 12 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Africa ranged from 19°S in May to 21°N in June, about 4,500 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.